World Bank supported Ghana with $903m – Pierre Frank Laporte

Pierre Frank Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, has stated that his outfit has approved a total of $903 million for Ghana to support public finance reforms.

According to him, this is a huge sum of money any development institution has approved for a country for a period of one year.

Speaking at an event in Accra, Pierre Frank Laporte said, “your excellency before I conclude, I would just like to take this opportunity quickly [to] recap the performance of our programme in Ghana over the last fiscal year that just ended on June 30.

“Between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, the World Bank approved a total of $903 million for Ghana. Never in the history of Ghana has any development institution approved such a large amount of money in one single year.”

Laporte further indicated that in the period of global economic crisis, it is the right time for development partners to take the right and strategic steps to review and grow economies that are struggling.

“In this period of global economic crisis, it is the right time to take calculated steps to review and grow our economies. Indeed it is time for development partners to show good faith with struggling economies…,” he stressed.

Ghana is currently in talks with the IMF for help as the country faces a dire economic crisis.

The economy is in distress as it currently has a total public debt stock of GH¢391.9 billion, as of the end of the first quarter of 2022.

The cedi is also the worst-performing African currency and has weakened 22 percent against the dollar this year.